


6pm

by lesserkey (cogito)



Series: speaking a dead language [2]
Category: Final Fantasy XIV
Genre: Fluff and Angst, M/M, caster house shenanigans: [smn sets himself on fire thru ifrit.], freshly tossed loose leaf canon salad
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-24
Updated: 2020-05-24
Packaged: 2021-03-03 05:21:19
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 698
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24359485
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/cogito/pseuds/lesserkey
Summary: Summoner had been lying comatose on the sofa for what must have been hours now. He had no pulse, no breathing, and besides the fact that his body had yet to go cold, he might as well have been a corpse.
Relationships: Black Mage | BLM Characters/Summoner | SMN Characters (Final Fantasy XIV)
Series: speaking a dead language [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1759006
Comments: 8
Kudos: 10





	6pm

**Author's Note:**

  * For [floaromas](https://archiveofourown.org/users/floaromas/gifts).



Summoner had been lying comatose on the sofa for what must have been hours now. He had no pulse, no breathing, and besides the fact that his body had yet to go cold, he might as well have been a corpse. Any mindful or even remotely skilled chirurgeon would have declared him legally dead. Not Scholar, however. They had been here just this afternoon and declared it an "aether imbalance" instead. There was nothing they could do for Summoner now besides wait.

"I have to run some errands," Red Mage complained, and left him with the body, so Black Mage had been thumbing through Summoner's aether-charged grimoire in the meantime. The chronometer on the wall slowly chimed six times, and he came out of his contemplative silence, away from the scrawl of Summoner's words, to the sleeper himself. Right after Summoner had burned up and passed out from fever, Scholar had arrived in a rush with handfuls of herbs and medicine. "Check his temperature every two hours, and if it comes back, call me," Scholar said, and he heard the urgency and panic in their voice. _Please, I don't want anything worse to happen to him._ The linkspearl was lying on the table with the rest of the medicine and a glass of water, a bubble or two occasionally rising to the surface.

He lifted a blackened hand and raised it to Summoner's forehead, suddenly stopping himself as he sighed in realization. 

_Right_. Gazing down at his charred palms, wiggling them to see that they were still attached. Even now, it was still second-nature, huh.

Shuffling away from the book and closing it, for the time being, he brushed some stray hairs away from his face and leaned in ever closer, until their foreheads were touching, skin to skin. Summoner's forehead was warm, but not overly so. Like rather than a fever, he was still alive. Which he... was, Black Mage thought, just not breathing.

 _Wait_ , no. Hold on-

"I'm hooo- _Oh,_ " The unexpected voice of Red Mage came from the door, where they were standing. 

With sundries in one hand, and house keys in the other, Red Mage looked at the scene before them with a lascivious smirk. The cork of a bottle of wine peered over the rest of their groceries as Black Mage pulled away, trying to spin an explanation. 

"I'm just-"

"Right, right. _Aether_ imbalance. Maybe all he needs is the kiss of life from his true love." Red Mage replied dismissively, disappearing into the kitchen rather unceremoniously and uncharacteristically. Beneath him, perhaps due to the noise, Summoner's breathing had restarted, uneven and unsteady, but slowly falling regular. Summoner groaned, and the unmistakable smack of his wrist against his forehead served a more forceful reminder as he returned to his body, life returning through his veins.

_"Fuck."_

There it was. His duty faithfully fulfilled, Black Mage rose to return to his basement-library-cave. "Medicine's on the table. Linkspearl Scholar and let them know you're okay. Red is in the kitchen, and you know where I am if you need me." It sounded like he was listing off grievances and complaints, which made him sound more dismissive than he would have liked.

The couch creaked underneath Summoner's weight as he rolled over to sit upright. A cool breeze blew from the center of the room, followed by a green light as Garuda appeared. Better Garuda than Ifrit, given the recent incident, Black Mage thought.

"Cool."

That should have marked the end of the conversation, but as Black Mage descended the stairs into the basement, Summoner called out to him once more from the railings. He looked away, refusing to meet Black Mage's eyes.

"... Thank you, for, you know."

Through the strange, blooming feeling in his chest, Black Mage managed a, "...Anyway, you're welcome." before continuing his descent.

Above him, he heard a muffled Red Mage tease Summoner for the luminescent look on his cheeks, and Summoner's barely muffled complaint that it had just been the lasting effects of the aether imbalance. He touched his own chest, clutching at the fabrics, and wondered if he should blame the warmth in his chest on the aether imbalance, too. 

**Author's Note:**

> The Chinese XIV fandom introduced me to shipping xiv class/class instead of characters. Part of a larger work, but for now, take this where I piece together canon salad as I wish because I didn't actually do either SMN or BLM job quests properly so I don't actually know the lore 100%.
> 
> My twitter display name is SMN/BLM 200k slow-burn angst.


End file.
